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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/25808554">Hiro Bujing’s Journey From Riches to Rags and Back Again</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jayden_the_Rat/pseuds/Jayden_the_Rat'>Jayden_the_Rat</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Avatar: The Last Airbender</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Abuse, Airbender Sokka (Avatar), Airbending &amp; Airbenders, Arranged Marriage, Canon, Child Abuse, Dog Tags, Earthbending &amp; Earthbenders, Emotional/Psychological Abuse, F/F, F/M, Firebender OFC, Firebending &amp; Firebenders, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, It’s not carried through but it exists, Jet (Avatar) Lives, M/M, Major Original Character(s), Not Canon Compliant, OC-centric, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, POV Original Character, Past Abuse, Past Child Abuse, Post-Canon, Pre-Canon, Sad? Get a new pet! You’ll still bee sad but you’ll have a pet, Tags Are Fun, Tags May Change, The Gaang Adopts Tom-Tom (Avatar), The Gaang Keeps Tom-Tom, The Gaang Learns How Zuko Got The Scar (Avatar), The Gaang adopts pets like Tony Stark adopts children, The Gaang has Way More Pets, There might be smut at some point, Trans Smellerbee (Avatar), Waterbending &amp; Waterbenders, Zuko Joins The Gaang Early (Avatar), Zuko is an Awkward Turtleduck, at all, because they should've, i have to give the biggest of trigger warnings for this, im upset that’s not a tag, we love mtf smellerbee</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-08-10</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-08-10</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-05 11:21:17</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Mature</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,062</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/25808554</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jayden_the_Rat/pseuds/Jayden_the_Rat</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Hiro Bujing has the ideal life: born to a powerful general and betrothed to the crown prince, how could she not? Everything’s perfect.</p><p>That’s the official line. That’s the official statement.</p><p>When her father gets ‘offended’ by her betrothed (and best friend), who then gets banished for ‘shameful actions’, she learns just how fast officiality can fall apart when you’re on the run.</p><p>Alternatively titled: what if the Gaang has a firebender from the start, but she refused to teach aang because she knows how dangerous and destructive it can be? </p><p>Comes with a side of gayness, a portion of airbender!Sokka, just a hint of angst, and a healthy dose of the gaang adopts tom-tom.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Aang/Katara (Avatar), Bato/Hakoda (Avatar), Freedom Fighters &amp; Zuko (Avatar), Freedom Fighters - Relationship, Haru/Teo (Avatar), Jet &amp; Longshot &amp; Smellerbee, Jet (Avatar)/Original Female Character(s), Longshot/Smellerbee (Avatar), Minor or Background Relationship(s), Original Male Character/Original Male Character, Sokka/Zuko (Avatar), The Duke &amp; Pipsqueak (Avatar), The Gaang &amp; Tom-Tom (Avatar), Toph Beifong/Suki</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>19</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Chapter 1</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Sorry this chapter sucks :( but I really just need to establish the character.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <strong>2 days before It Happens</strong>
</p><p> </p><p>“Zuzu! Shut up!” Hiro shoved the boy’s shoulder as he laughed.</p><p> </p><p>“You shut up!” He shoved her back, and she fell back on his bed, but not without dragging him with her. The two kids laid on top of one another, laughing until their stomachs hurt.</p><p> </p><p>The door burst open, and the two scrambled to stand.</p><p><br/>“What do we have here?” At the mocking voice, they both relaxed.</p><p> </p><p>“What do you want Azula?” Zuko groaned.</p><p> </p><p>“General Bujing is looking for your girlfriend.”</p><p> </p><p>“She’s not my girlfriend!” Zuko fumed.</p><p> </p><p>“Damn, Master Piandao said he wouldn’t tell if I skipped lessons today!”</p><p> </p><p>“Oh, he didn’t. I did.” Azula smirked at Hiro.</p><p> </p><p>“Azula!” Ty Lee scolded as she walked into Zuko’s bedroom as well. “You know they just wanted to spend time together!”</p><p> </p><p>“Well, I didn’t tell him you were <em>here. </em>I just told him you weren’t at lessons. But you better run if you don’t want him to catch you here.”</p><p> </p><p>As much as she wanted to stay and be mad at Azula, Hiro couldn’t risk how much they’d be in trouble if the two were caught together without her father or one of her brothers present. So, she sighed and popped the pane out of a window, crawling out and onto the side of the palace. Zuko fixed the window behind her and she crawled along the side of the building until she reached her own bedroom, just as her father stormed in. <br/><br/></p><p>She busied herself with looking busy, pulling her sword from its sheath at her bedside and practicing moves in the air. Her father gaped.</p><p> </p><p>“Father!” She yelled when she ‘noticed’ him, dropping her sword and tackling him in a hug.</p><p> </p><p>“Hiro, you are supposed to be at lessons with Master Piandao, not practicing on your own.”</p><p> </p><p>She was always a good liar. “Well, father, I wanted to practice with you today, but I couldn’t find you. You have that war meeting tomorrow, and I won’t be able to see you all day.”</p><p> </p><p>He considered it, then finally relented and went to fetch his sword.</p><p> </p><p>
  <strong>1 day before It Happens</strong>
</p><p> </p><p>Taiyou grabbed Hiro’s elbow as she threw her hands over her mouth, dragging her out of the arena as Zuko screamed in agony.</p><p> </p><p>She let herself be pulled away, collapsing soon after she was out of the stadium. Taiyou, her oldest brother, threw her over his shoulder and kept walking.</p><p> </p><p>When he finally set her down, they were on the roof of one of the palace buildings. Kai, her pet fire ferret, had found his way out of her room and twisted around her feet until she sat down and pulled him into her lap. Taiyou sat next to her and reached into an unlit brazier. When he pulled his hand out, a bottle of rice wine was clutched in his fist. He reached in again and came back with a large bottle of juice, pouring some of the rice wine into the bottle and shaking it up to mix it. </p><p> </p><p>He took a large swig of the concoction and then handed it to Hiro. She looked up at him, skeptical, but he smiled. "C'mon, sis. You're twelve now. Drink with the big kids."</p><p> </p><p>Hiro laughed and took a drink from the bottle. There was a slightly bitter taste, but the juice overpowered it. Kai crawled up her shirt and curled around her shoulders. Taiyou took the bottle again, and Hiro pulled her sword out of its scabbard on her back. A beautiful, thin, jade blade that she'd made herself with Master Piandao when she was eight. She held it in her lap, keeping it away from Kai when he tried to swipe at the sharp edge. </p><p> </p><p>Her eyes were pulled to the inscription. It had been Hikaru's idea, a passing thought that Hiro had gone through with. She'd gently carved it one night with a knife, under Taiyou's supervision. </p><p> </p><p>"Better to fight for something than live for nothing," she whispered, reading off the blade. Taiyou nodded gently.</p><p> </p><p>"Fight for something..." He murmured, taking another swig from the bottle.</p><p> </p><p>Hiro took the bottle and took a drink. "Do you ever think about leaving?"</p><p> </p><p>Taiyou didn't hesitate. "Of course. Who hasn't?"</p><p> </p><p>"Why don't we?"</p><p> </p><p>"We'd have to leave Hikaru and Youichi."</p><p> </p><p>Their brothers. Younger than Taiyou, 17, and older than Hiro, 12, the twins sat at 15 years old.</p><p> </p><p>"Mom and dad wouldn't be mad at them. They've always managed before, and you know they wouldn't come with us. Let's leave."</p><p> </p><p>Taiyou considered for a moment. "... You know what? Let's do it. Let's run."</p><p> </p><p>"We're gonna do it?"</p><p> </p><p>"We're gonna do it! We're gonna leave!"</p><p> </p><p>Hiro and Taiyou jumped up and embraced, hugging each other tightly, without a care in the world.</p><p> </p><p>"Tomorrow night," Taiyou said. "I'll come to your room, and we'll leave this place."</p><p> </p><p>
  <strong>0 days before It Happens</strong>
</p><p> </p><p>Hiro waited. And waited. And waited.</p><p> </p><p>Eventually, she opened her door to go to Taiyou's room, and when she did, she noticed two notes tied to her door. She grabbed them and went back into her room. Unrolling the first, she got increasingly upset at the words she read.</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>Dear Hiro, </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>I have to go. I'm so sorry. I know we had a plan, and I wish I could go through with it with you, but there's no chance anymore. Zuko has been banished. His father says he acted shamefully in the Angi Kai by not fighting back, and he had been sentenced to banishment. The only way he can 'return with honor' is if he returns with the Avatar. You know, the kid no one has seen in a hundred years? And I was drafted to be part of his crew.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Please, go without me. Take Kai and take all the money I had saved up - I left it in my room under the lantern next to my bed. Leave this place. Run away. I know you can survive without me. I'll send a messenger hawk in a week.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Stay safe, sis.</em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>Love you, Taiyou.</em>
</p><p> </p><p>Holding back tears, Hiro unrolled the second letter.</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>Hiro,</em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>I am eternally sorry for all the pain I must be causing you. I wish I didn't have to leave. I wish I could bring you with me. But I acted shamefully, and now I must restore my honor. I am sorry for taking your brother, I wanted to take you but your father refused, said you were too young. I had to respect his wishes; after all, it was him I disrespected in the war room. I have brought this banishment upon myself. I only wish I could've spared you the pain of experiencing it with me.</em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>Forever yours in heart and soul, Zuko</em>
</p><p> </p><p>There was no hope of drying her tears now. She pulled a bag from under her bed and quickly packed away everything she would need. She pulled out two pieces of parchment, writing a note to her father (the gist of which was 'I'm angry that it's your fault Zuko and Taiyou left'), and a letter to Zuko. Kai jumped from the floor to her shoulders as she left, her bag already slung around her shoulders. She went first to Taiyou's abandoned room, taking the bag of money and a dark red cloak from his closet. She made a stop by her father's room, sliding the note under the door. Then, finally, she stopped by the station for messenger hawks and tucked the letter for Zuko into its pouch, setting it off into the sky.</p><p> </p><p>She pulled on the cloak and ran quietly through the capital city until she exited the volcano. She wasn't coming back.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Chapter 2</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Hiro Bujing from the time she runs away to the time her friends find the Avatar is 100% just a mess.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Yes, all the OC's names are Japanese because I like Japanese names ok back off</p><p>Please comment because reading comments gives me life tell me if I made a spelling or grammar mistake cause this is unbeta'd tell me if you like it tell me if you hate it tell me what you think is gonna happen or what you want to see happen just please comment</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Hiro traveled through the Fire Nation for a short while, but there were missing and wanted posters of her everywhere. When it became too dangerous, she and Kai snuck onto a ship and hitched a ride to the Earth Kingdom. On the way there, she devised her character and used one of her knives to slowly start cutting her hairs, just a few centimeters at a time to take up time and be entertaining.</p><p> </p><p>Her name was Hyo. She lived in a small Earth Kingdom town that was overrun by the Fire Nation when she was four. Her parents were killed in the first attacks, leaving the responsibility for her care to fall to her brother, Kagea. Kagea was part of a group that was constantly fighting against the Fire Nation soldiers in their town, and eventually, he died fighting the Fire Nation soldiers. Her father was a powerful earthbender and her brother took after him. She was a nonbender, but the soldiers were suspicious of her and started trying to track her down to lock her up. She barely escaped and was now on the run with Kagea's pet fire ferret, Rali. </p><p> </p><p>Finally, she arrived in the Earth Kingdom. By the time the boat arrived and all its inhabitants got off, her hair hung around her face in a short bob, barely brushing her jaw. A suitable disguise.</p><p> </p><p>She spent three of her last ten copper pieces on a beautiful instrument that the seller called a ukulele. For a few weeks, she traveled with a group of musicians who taught her how to play it and some good songs. When she finally learned most of the different chords, she experimented with playing some of her old favorite Fire Nation songs. Nothing that was obviously Fire Nation, of course, but little lullabies and duets she and Zuko used to sing together.</p><p> </p><p>She quickly learned how to steal, and stole everything she needed to survive. One day she found herself at the gates of Ba Sing Se, and decided to stay in the city for a while. She learned, then and there, outside the wall of Ba Sing Se, how to find the people in a crowd who can get you fake documents. By the end of the day, Hyo had a passport and was inside the great city of Ba Sing Se. </p><p> </p><p>One day when she was there, she swiped a few jars of paint from a stall in the upper ring. All the upper ring snobs deserved to be taken down a peg, anyway. She painted the ukulele that she still had carefully, slowly turning it into a depiction of the starry night sky in Ba Sing Se, the infallible city. She found a lovely theater in the lower ring that put on clearly low budget, but surprisingly high spirited productions of several classics. But eventually, as she always did, she had to move on.</p><p> </p><p>Before she reached the South Pole, the place she stayed the longest was with the Freedom Fighters. Some of them knew how to play other instruments, so playing with them was always fun. Hiro also had very few qualms about dropping in on unsuspecting Fire Nation troops and sending them packing. She got along with all of them, particularly Smellerbee and Longshot. At fourteen, she was mature enough, thank you very much, to admit that she had a bit of a crush on Jet, but it never hindered her.</p><p> </p><p>But whenever she started thinking about it too hard, she always felt bad. For loving the Freedom Fighters. For accepting their friendship. Because they didn't know Hiro; they knew Hyo. She'd never hid any part of her personality, but they didn't know her past.</p><p> </p><p>They didn't know she was a firebender.</p><p> </p><p>So, one night, she descended from the canopy on a rope and slipped into the trees and didn't think twice about if they would miss her.</p><p> </p><p>She wasn't sure exactly when she went from being the nice Fire Nation child she once was to being an unbathed teenage girl with her hair in a messy bun, jumping from trees and taking out Fire Nation camps with her jade sword (who she'd recently named Jada). </p><p> </p><p>After she left the Freedom Fighters, she felt the need to distance herself a bit. She found directions to the Southern Water Tribe, and stole a small boat to sail there.</p><p> </p><p>When she arrived, the villagers were shockingly welcoming. They took her in, gave her new clothes and a place to sleep, and didn't ask too many questions. It seemed like the perfect place to stay a while. So she did.</p><p> </p><p>And then everything changed when the airbender came back.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>The next chapters will be longer and better and more detailed but I just needed to finish up the exposition</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
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